The draw for the EHL Men’s KO16 will take place on Thursday, July 18 at 11am (CET) via a Euro Hockey League Facebook Live broadcast as the competition embarks on an exciting new era. This season will see the introduction of EHL Women for the first time next Easter as part of European hockey’s “Equally Amazing” charter.

That event will see eight of amazing clubs from around the continent battle it out for the EHL title next Easter. It will take place in tandem with EHL Men in the same carnival atmosphere with equal broadcasting standards and exposure for the world’s best club hockey competition.

For EHL Men, the competition takes on a new format. It starts this season with the KO16 in Barcelona, going straight into knock-out action. 16 clubs from 11 different countries will be on display at the Pau Negre Stadium, playing the KO16 and KO8 rounds from October 4th to 6th, 2019.

In the draw, the EHL will confirm who will play who and the pathway through to next Easter’s FINAL8.

For this new format, a new seeding system will be employed. The top four seeds for this phase of the competition will be the second placed sides from the top four nations on the EHL Ranking Table. These sides already have a fixed place on the draw sheet. This means Germany’s Mannheimer HC sit in the top quarter of the draw, Belgium’s Beerschot are in the bottom quarter; SV Kampong from the Netherlands are in the third quarter and local club Real Club de Polo de Barcelona will be in the second quarter.

The EHL Board has agreed this change in seeding process from previous years to reflect the strength of the leading nations in the EHL. This leaves 12 clubs to be placed in the draw: Germany’s Rot-Weiss Koln, Belgium’s Herakles, Netherlands’ HGC, England’s Hampstead & Westminster and Subiton, France’s Saint Germain and CA Montrouge, Russia’s Dinamo Elektrostal, Scotland’s Grange, Ireland’s Three Rock Rovers, Belarus’s HC Minsk and Austria’s SV Arminen.

One bucket will contain 12 balls numbered 5 to 16. These reflect the position on the draw based on the Olympic order. A second bucket will contain the names of the 12 teams. A number will be drawn first and then a club name will be drawn to determine their place in the draw. This will be done 12 times until the draw is complete.

In addition to confirming the KO16 match-ups in Barcelona, it will determine the potential opposition for each club’s second game of the EHL weekend. At the KO16 in Barcelona, the winners will play in the KO8 while the losing sides will play a ranking match, ensuring each club has two games at the event.

The four sides who win their KO8 games will advance to the FINAL8 stage next Easter. There, they will join Belgian champions Royal Leopold, Germany’s Uhlenhorst Mulheim, Netherland’s HC Bloemendaal and Spain’s Club Egara.

Ticket information and the match schedule will be confirmed in due course by the EHL and EHF following consultation with broadcast partners.